Of the three lamps only one was alight, and burnt
very dimly. There was no moonlight, but a plenty of starshine, which
showered in a very rippling of spangled silver through the yawning
casements of the skylights.
Just as I returned the tumbler to the rack whence I had removed it,
the door of Miss Le Grand's cabin was opened, and the girl stepped
forth. She was arrayed in white; probably she was attired in her
bed-clothes. She seemed to see me at once, for she emerged directly
opposite; and I thought she would speak, or hastily retire. But, after
appearing to stare for a little while, she came to the table and
leaned upon it with her left hand, sighing several times in the most
heart-broken manner; and now I saw by the help of the dim lamplight
that her right hand grasped a knife--the gleam of the blade caught my
eye in a breath!
"Good gracious!" I cried to myself, instantly, "the woman's asleep!
This, then, is the ghost that frightened the Dane. And this, too, was
the hand that murdered the captain!"
I stood motionless watching her. Presently, taking her hand off the
table, she turned her face aft, and with a wonderfully subtle,
stealthy, sneaking gait, reminding one strangely of the folding motion
of the snake, she made for the captain's cabin.
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